Sadaf Raffat Mustafa, Kashmala Munawar.
The Relationship of Tinnitus with Cognitive Impairment in Normal Hearing Individuals.
J Islamabad Med Dent Coll Jan ;6(4):244-8.

Objective: To determine the impact of tinnitus on cognitive impairment in normal hearing individuals. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the ENT department of Railway Hospital, Rawalpindi from 1st March 2016 to 1st January 2017. A total of sixty (n=60) patients of both gender between age 18 to 50 years, who had normal hearing (clinically examined by tuning fork test and later on confirmed by pure tone audiometry) with history of unilateral or bilateral tinnitus of more than 3 months’ duration were included in the study. Mini mental state examination scale was used to assess cognition. Results: There were 42% (25/60) males and 58% (35/60) females in the study sample. A total of 53.33% (n= 32) patients were identified with impaired cognition, of which 65.62% (n=21/32) patients were found with mild cognition while 34.38% (n=11/32) patients were found to have severe cognitive impairment. Moreover, it was also observed that the cognitive impairment was more prevalent in people of younger age group (P<0.05), office workers (P<0.05) and people living in urban area (P<0.05). Conclusion: A significant percentage of patients with tinnitus of more than 3 months’ duration were found to have impaired cognition and was more prevalent in people of younger age group, office workers and people living in urban areas. 

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